LSE upgrades

A

ahargrove

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Hello all, I am a new LS owner. I have been reading through the forum for some time now and see plenty of beautiful cars on here. My LS is a 2005 Ultimate V8. I love the car however I also love the look of the LSE's. I have been searching for several weeks but can't seem to find where LSE parts can be purchased anymore. Can anyone recommend a source?
I think the cars are beautiful as is but those LSE tweaks sure make a difference. More than anything, the grille would be the most important.
Thanks for looking.
 
Welcome... searching is your friend, if you scroll down like 1/4 of the page you will see someone is selling an LSE grille.
 
Sorry, today is the first chance I've had to get on here this week and just went straight to posting instead of searching. Thanks!
 
ahargrove said:
My car is cashmere tri-coat, anyone know how hard it would be to paint an LSE grill to match?
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Not difficult, there are several threads of people doing this. I think paintscratch.com is the site most members use to obtain color matched paint.
 
You'll never get a perfect match on a tricoat color.
 
jjcool00 said:
Not difficult, there are several threads of people doing this. I think paintscratch.com is the site most members use to obtain color matched paint.
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eehhhhhh, kinda...

while its not hard to paint it to match any color, the tri coats are gonna be the hardest to get a perfect match do to the way the paint is.

i would say, easy to paint, very hard to get a perfect match...
 
trigt6.jpg

Tri-coat paints have extreme color depths that are notoriously difficult to match

trigt6.jpg
 
That's pretty much what I expected. Nothing is ever easy. I'm sure trying to match a 9+ year old paint job won't help either.
Other than the one that is for sale here, those grills are hard to find.
 
its getting the pearl to the same is the biggest thing you will notice. especially when in the sun.
 
Most shops you talk to won't do panel work on tricoats, or at the least they'll warn you about a checker board finish,
they'd offer no guarantee and would much rather recommend an entire blend in across several panels or completes.
 
I was going to ask a similar question, only about parts not cosmetics, so I figured I'd post it in here rather than starting a new thread. I just bought an '02 V8 base model, and perusing the local Pull-A-Part, I noticed an '02 LSE (with carriage top no less) that had just been brought in.

IMAG0044.jpg

IMAG0043.jpg


I'm wondering if there are any premium parts that I can scavenge off this LSE that would be worthwhile upgrades from whatever might be on the base model. I'm very new to the LS, but on my current vehicle ('92 Cavalier) for example, the RS and Z24 models had things like larger sway bars, strut-tower braces, and other similar components that were often bolt-on upgrades for a base model.

IMAG0044.jpg
 
rims , rear bumper , exhaust tips, headlights , tailights ( headlights and tail lights arent premium but if you can get them cheap you can flip em for some cash )
 
theophile said:
...I'm wondering if there are any premium parts that I can scavenge off this LSE that would be worthwhile upgrades from whatever might be on the base model. I'm very new to the LS, but on my current vehicle ('92 Cavalier) for example, the RS and Z24 models had things like larger sway bars, strut-tower braces, and other similar components that were often bolt-on upgrades for a base model.
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LSE is just an appearance package. It didn't change any functional parts.
The sport model does have different shocks, sway bar, and automatic shifter than non-sport, along with 17" wheels and some appearance items. If you have select shift (lever has D5, D4, and + and -) then you already have a sport.
 
joegr said:
LSE is just an appearance package. It didn't change any functional parts.
The sport model does have different shocks, sway bar, and automatic shifter than non-sport, along with 17" wheels and some appearance items. If you have select shift (lever has D5, D4, and + and -) then you already have a sport.
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Also interesting. The car I bought is this one (still waiting for it to be shipped). The description indicates base model, but it does have the sport shifter and the 17" wheels (as well as the Alpine audio system).
 
theophile said:
Also interesting. The car I bought is this one (still waiting for it to be shipped). The description indicates base model, but it does have the sport shifter and the 17" wheels (as well as the Alpine audio system).
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That, sir, IS a sport model!! Yet another clueless dealer..... VIN look-up.........
 
theophile said:
Also interesting. The car I bought is this one (still waiting for it to be shipped). The description indicates base model, but it does have the sport shifter and the 17" wheels (as well as the Alpine audio system).
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Beautiful car! Good find. I have had mine for a little over a month now and I love it. These cars look, drive and perform great. Especially the v8. Mine has a little more miles than yours but it was well taken car of. Good luck to you and I hope we both have many happy years enjoying these beautiful cars.
 
I'm looking for a black passenger side folding mirror with the puddle, heater and memory - if that's even possible.
 
MYEARWOOD said:
I'm looking for a black passenger side folding mirror with the puddle, heater and memory - if that's even possible.
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The only thing optional there is folding. All 2nd gen mirrors have puddle lamps, heat and memory. You can always paint one if the color is wrong.
 
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